Navistar launches active grille and fiber optic lighting technology

At this year's Mid-America International Truck Show, Navistar showcased a number of technologies on its International Truck concept vehicle.

The Project Horizon concept truck is a prototype of Navistar's next-generation ProStar truck. Engineers focused on three areas of technical improvement: aerodynamics, ride comfort and passenger safety, and fuel economy.

First, the concept car features an active front grille wrapped in carbon fiber film, which is also used in other areas of the body, including the side mirror bars and the skirt behind the chassis. The grille is vertically distributed, and the system is equipped with an electric vertical blade group that is automatically controlled by the vehicle's electronic control unit and can rotate up to 90 degrees. Depends on the required amount of air. The active closing system of the grille controls the opening angle of the blades based on the information received from the relevant sensors to control and regulate the amount of air entering the engine compartment from the air intake. If air is needed to cool the engine, the blade group will open, and vice versa, helping the ProStar truck to greatly reduce wind resistance. When the vehicle is started in a cold state, the active closing system of the grille can control the blades to remain closed for a long time, allowing the engine to reach the appropriate operating temperature faster to reduce fuel consumption.

In addition, this truck uses a lot of LED lighting technology, including the application of LED fiber optic tubes. Fiber optic headlights use light source fibers to conduct light based on the principle of total reflection of light. It consists of light sources, reflectors, optical fibers, and output components. Fiber optic headlights can be used as headlights, front fog lights, and are more widely used in various lighting in car interiors. Although light tube technology is not a new technology, it uses a selective lighting solution on this truck. It is different from the traditional truck that has 5 identification lights and each identification light has two small holes for fastening. The front LED fiber optic tube of this concept truck uses laser etching technology, and there are also two sets of LED lighting systems on both sides of the body. The use of LED lighting in key areas not only ensures the recognizability of the vehicle when driving on the road, but also reduces the cost of lighting in unnecessary places.

LED lights are also used in the headlights and taillights, so that other road users can more easily distinguish the outline of the truck at night. The orange LED light is embedded in the middle of the light source, which perfectly sets off the outline of the chassis skirt, not only for aesthetics, but also to prevent other drivers from misjudging the distance between vehicles when the truck turns and causing collisions.

In order to improve the driver's field of vision, the side ventilation windows adopt an integrated window structure, giving the driver a wider side view.

Fiber optic lamp technology is still in the development stage, and its high cost limits its application in automotive products. Once the obstacles are overcome, the technology will be widely used in automotive lamps.